Veteran ventriloquist Keith Harris told a Prestatyn crowd that he has won a secret cancer battle.

Doctors gave him just 12 months to live when the illness was diagnosed last year and he kept it quiet.

But on Saturday during his show with duck puppet Orville at a caravan park in Prestatyn, he told the crowd: “I’ve beaten cancer.”

Keith, 66, added: “Some time ago I was diagnosed with a nasty little disease which affects one in three of us. That nasty disease is called cancer. I'm pleased to say I’ve beaten it. At one point they told me I had a year to live but here I am.”

Keith also revealed that he was defying medical advice by returning to the stage so soon after treatment. “They told me to rest up for at least two months,” he added. “I said, ‘Forget that – I’m going to work.’”

Harris, from Lancashire, looked tanned and healthy on stage. In the 1980s, he had his own TV show and a Top 10 hit with Orville’s Song.

Orville and Cuddles the Monkey were the stars of the show with the catchphrase of 'I hate that duck' and Orville's constant desire to fly.

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